Germantown will not get a skate spot anytime soon after Montgomery County officials say they learned too late that equipment would not qualify under a federal grant which expired Sept. 30.

The county lost the $30,000 that remained in the federal grant.

In mid-September, Catherine Matthews, director of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, said she wanted to buy skate ramps for at least one temporary skate spot in Germantown. The Germantown Community-Based Collaborative meetings were held since September 2007 to discuss how to spend the grant money and where to locate the skate spot, Matthews said.

About $30,000 remained from a $65,700 federal gang-prevention grant awarded through the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Family. The county asked for details of what a commodity was and if the money could be used for the skate spot two weeks before the Sept. 30 deadline, said Uma Ahluwalia, director of the county's Department of Health and Human Services.

"The grant money could only be used for service programs, not commodities," she said.

She said the county didn't wait until the last minute to use the money.

"The community had a lot of debate of where they wanted a skate spot and what kind of equipment we were going to get," Ahluwalia said. "It took a while for them to decide on everything before we could ask to use the money. It just went down to the wire."

Skate spots, which are removable ramps and rails for skateboarders, were proposed for the parking lot at the Montgomery County Police 5th District station on Aircraft Drive and at Leaman Local Park. Some Town Center business owners have complained of skateboarder disrupting customers and damaging property.

There should be a "designated space for people to ride their skateboards," said Charlotte Sommers, executive director for BlackRock Center for the Arts.

"It's not safe for them to ride their skateboards in front of our building and it's really not good for our image," she said.

Concrete barriers still surround the 11 parking spaces in front of the 5th District police station Didone dedicated to the skate spot. Didone said he is hopeful that through other resources, he can bring a skate spot to Germantown.

Didone has $1,000 in community policing discretionary funds he would use toward supplies to build skate ramps and is seeking more contributions. Didone met with a carpenter, and has requested an extra surveillance camera and lighting for the parking lot.

"We will look to have something in place by the end of the month," Didone said. "The skateboarding in downtown Germantown has been identified by my advisory board as the number one issue to address. Everybody agrees we need a skate spot, but no one wants it in their backyard."